{"id":877086,"date":"2026-09-02T06:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T06:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/877086\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T06:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T06:06:11","slug":"us-open-2026-gael-monfils-wins-on-40th-birthday-to-reach-new-york-second-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/877086\/","title":{"rendered":"US Open 2026: Gael Monfils wins on 40th birthday to reach New York second round"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Most people celebrate their 40th birthday with a slap-up meal or a surprise party.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Gael Monfils, the maverick Frenchman who always knows how to have fun on the court, marked his milestone by winning a Grand Slam match at the US Open.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Playing in the final major of his career, Monfils ensured he had a unforgettable night with a 2-6 6-1 6-2 6-0 victory over Paraguayan opponent Adolfo Daniel Vallejo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The former world number six is the oldest man to win a US Open main-draw match since Jimmy Connors &#8211; who also won on his 40th birthday in 1992.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The New York crowd made the occasion even more memorable for Monfils by bursting into an impromptu rendition of Happy Birthday during his post-victory interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;To play on my 40th birthday is very special,&#8221; said the 2016 US Open semi-finalist, who announced last year he will retire at the end of this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The atmosphere [in New York] is always electric &#8211; I feel great here. I always try to play great tennis and put on a great show.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Addressing the thousands of fans who created a celebratory atmosphere on Louis Armstrong Stadium, he added: &#8220;You guys rock &#8211; let&#8217;s keep it up for the second round.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most people celebrate their 40th birthday with a slap-up meal or a surprise party. Gael Monfils, the maverick&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-877086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}